Who was Fatima Sheikh: India’s oft-forgotten feminist icon

Befriending Savitribai and starting a girls’ school in Pune

Fatima Sheikh befriended Savitribai when the two were enrolled in a teachers’ training programme by American missionary Cynthia Farrar. While in the programme, both developed a bond over their politics and mission to educate those who had been traditionally denied knowledge and education.

Only surviving photo of Fatima Sheikh (left, sitting on the chair) and Savitribai Phule.

In 1848, Savitribai, Fatima and Jyotirao opened the first school for girls inside the premises of Fatima’s home in Pune. Savitribai and Fatima took on the work of teaching a small group of girls there, with the help of Farrar, who at the time was based in Ahmednagar. Other schools for Dalits and women followed, with Fatima and Savitribai going to individual families across the town in attempts to persuade them into enrolling their children.

Standing firm amidst fervent opposition

However, in Pune, a conservative bastion of Marathi culture and tradition, the very act of trying to educate the underprivileged caused uproar. It is said that the two women would often have stones and pieces of dung thrown at them while walking in the streets. Fatima specifically is said to have borne the wrath of both upper-caste Hindus and orthodox Muslims.

Under pressure from upper castes, Jyotirao’s father evicted Savitribai and Jyotirao from the family home in the late 1840s. With nowhere else to go, the Phules would find shelter at the house of Mian Usman Sheikh, where they would live till 1856. As many from their own community abandoned them, Fatima Sheikh and her brother stood strongly with the Phules and the mission to educate girls and bahujans.

An elusive figure

Unfortunately, many details of Fatima Sheikh’s life and pioneering work have been lost. Unlike the Phules, who left behind a treasure trove of literature in the form of personal diaries, notes, letters, poems and books, no surviving documents of Fatima Sheikh are available today. 

Even among Muslim icons, she is often forgotten, with figures such as Syed Ahmed Khan, who established the Aligarh Muslim University, dominating discourse on education and social reform.

However, while the details of Fatima Sheikh’s life might not be as well known, what is indisputable is that she was a pioneering figure whose life, at a time when regressive attitudes towards women and bahujans pervaded society, is a testimony to her courage. 

Remembering her today

In 2022, Fatima Shaikh was honoured with a Google Doodle on her birthday. Today, some state governments have included her mention in their history or political science syllabi.